After finishing most of act two of King Lear, there have been several situations so far that have led me to automatically take sides regarding the conflict of the story. While at first I saw myself sympathizing with Edmund for being the rejected son who his father makes fun of, my views towards his character have drastically changed after seeing his actions against his brother. While Gloucester had made fun of Edmund (apparently a number of times), the text provides no evidence of Edgar treating his brother poorly. For Edmund to lead his father into banishing his own son for no reason seems to be more cruel towards Edgar than Gloucester, and for this, it is clear that Shakespeare intends Edmund to be one of the major villains in the entire story.
On the other side of the spectrum, I would have to say that I have been most impressed with the character qualities shown by Kent. From the beginning of the story, it appears that Kent is one of the finer men that Lear has as a friend, and his actions thus far have only confirmed this. After standing up for Cordelia in Act 1, Kent is banished unfairly by King Lear. Instead of being angry towards his king however, Kent puts himself at an even greater risk by dressing up as a peasant in order to remain a servant of Lear. While anyone else would have wanted nothing to do with Lear, he stood up for his friend and refused to abandon his loyalty towards the king. His loyalty is even further tested when he picks a fight with Oswald who had previously disrespected Lear. Because of this, he puts not only his identity at risk, but his life. As a result he is placed in the stocks as punishment, all for someone who had betrayed him. Through these examples from the text, it is clear in my mind that Kent has undoubtedly shown the most courage and integrity of all the characters thus far.
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